


here in the water (still looking for you)

by SurviveEternity



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:23:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5655835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SurviveEternity/pseuds/SurviveEternity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was so cold - Seth wrapped his arms around himself, trying to keep himself warm. His mind rattled off the symptoms of hypothermia - and how it could be fatal if left untreated - but Seth ignored them; if he was cold, he couldn’t even imagine how cold Dean would have to be. His hands curled in on themselves, his blunt nails digging into his skin through his drenched shirt - if only he had followed Dean out earlier, if only he had tried to stop Dean before he left, if only they hadn’t had that stupid fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	here in the water (still looking for you)

"Dean!” Seth shouted, wading through the water. The storm was getting worse - he was drenched to the bone, he couldn’t stop shivering and his hair stuck to his face. Seth’s search wasn’t aided by the fact that the only light was when a lightning bolt tore through the sky. He hadn’t had time to grab a flashlight - the minute he had seen Dean’s car, flipped over and beat up, lying in the creek, Seth had stopped his own car and jumped out.

He’d called Roman, telling him what had happened, and then immediately started trying Dean’s phone. Seth could still remember how his heart had leapt when he heard the ringtone coming from nearby - and how his heart had fallen, when he found it and realized that Dean had gotten separated from his cellphone.

It was so cold - Seth wrapped his arms around himself, trying to keep himself warm. His mind rattled off the symptoms of hypothermia - and how it could be fatal if left untreated - but Seth ignored them; if he was cold, he couldn’t even imagine how cold Dean would have to be. His hands curled in on themselves, his blunt nails digging into his skin through his drenched shirt - if only he had followed Dean out earlier, if only he had tried to stop Dean before he left, if only they hadn’t had that stupid fight.

“Dean!” Seth called again, hoping against hope for a response. He was running out of time - his calls were becoming barely coherent, his voice was slurring, he was stumbling over his own feet and he felt exhausted. He just wanted to lie down right where he was.

He tripped and splashed down into the creek. Instinctually, Seth’s hands came out to catch himself. His left hand got jammed between two rocks even as his body continued to move. A snapping sound echoed - rising above even the sound of the heavy rainfall. It took him a minute - and a good long gaze at his arm - to realize that he’d broken a bone in his arm. “...Fuck,” he muttered, as he shoved himself up in his other arm.

Seth struggled up, trying not to put any weight on his broken arm. The water was bearing down on him from two angles now - the rush of the creek, slamming into his side, and the vicious downpour coming from above. His teeth were chattering as he tried to walk towards shore. His phone was long dead at this point, he knew.

 _‘Hopefully Roman can find me,’_ he thought. If Roman couldn’t - Seth shook his head. He was dead if he didn’t get care soon.

His knee buckled as soon as he was back on shore. Seth wasn’t sure why, he only realized what was happening as the ground rushed up to meet his face.

-

It took Roman a minute to figure out what he saw moving further upstream, but then lightning flashed and he could make out a blond streak. "Seth!" He called, before realizing the other man couldn't hear him over the storm. He started running down the shore and then he saw Seth collapse. "Seth!" The shout came unbidden, filled with anguish and fear.

Roman ran over to where Seth was lying on the shore, then rolled him over. He pressed two fingers to Seth's neck, trying to take his pulse, while he turned on his radio. "I found Seth," he shouted. "He's collapsed and I don't know what's wrong." He explained where they were, crossing his fingers and praying that Jimmy and Jey could get there quickly with the stretcher. Seth was already in pretty shit state, he didn’t want to make it worse by aggravating an injury.

“Damn it,” he muttered, ducking his head. He’d tried to call Seth to tell him that Dean had been found and was at the local hospital, but he hadn’t been able to get through. Considering the state of Seth’s clothes, it was probably because his phone had been drowned.

Roman attempted to position himself between Seth and the downpour. “Hey, man,” he said, shaking Seth’s shoulder. “Wake up.” _‘C’mon, Seth, don’t make me tell Dean you died looking for him.’_ As a paramedic, Roman’s never had to do death notifications. He’s seen his father and brother - both cops - come back from doing them; they looked terrible afterwards and they didn’t know the people they were notifying.

Seth groaned, his eyes flickering open. “R-Ro?” His voice was barely there, but Roman still heard him.

“Oh, thank God, man,” Roman said, gently squeezing Seth’s shoulder. “Thought you were a goner for a minute.”

“D-Dean…”

“Is at the hospital,” Roman finished, cutting off whatever Seth had been about to say. He could see the surprise in Seth’s eyes, the surprise and the relief. “Showed up at a gas station with a broken arm and a twisted ankle.”

Seth opened his mouth - whatever he was going to say was cut off by the arrival of Jimmy and Jey. “C’mon,” Jimmy said, putting the stretcher down. “We got the bus as close as it can come, but we still gotta carry him up a bit in this rainstorm.”

Quickly, the three cousins got to work - soon Seth was strapped into the stretcher and on his way to the ambulance. Looking at him, all Roman could do was hope it was fast enough.

-

Dean was waiting for his ankle to be x-rayed when suddenly Jimmy and Jey burst in, running alongside a stretcher. He was certain he wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for the quiet, dripping wet Roman walking behind them - and that was when Dean noticed the distinctive blond section of Seth’s hair.

Jimmy was shouting out things Dean barely heard - he picked up ‘hypothermia’, ‘broken arm’ and ‘severe lacerations’, but other than that, all Dean processed was how pale Seth was. Seth wasn’t supposed to be pale, wasn’t supposed to be that still. He watched the gurney carrying Seth as far as he could, until his line of sight was broken by a corner.

“What the fuck happened?” He asked, trying to keep from sounding accusative. “He’s looking worse than me and I was in a car wreck.”

Roman sighed, running a hand through his hair. He kept his eyes trained on the ground, refusing to look into Dean’s face. “Seth...After the argument, he went after you. When he found your car, he started searching.” Dean could feel the blood draining from his face.

Now Roman was pacing, still not looking at Dean. “He didn’t realize how long he’d been out there, I think. He’s...It’s...Not good, Dean.” Roman finally sat down. A nurse appeared from nowhere, shoving a towel in his face, then she told Dean to sit back down on the bed, his ankle still needed an x-ray.

“Why…?” Dean’s voice was quiet and strained. “He said he was sick of following me everywhere, sick of chasing me when I run. He told me if I left, he wasn’t following me out the door.” His good hand was curling into a fist. Why did Seth follow him, Seth’s suffering because of him, it’s all his fault. Why didn’t Seth stick to his word? He chuckled dryly, “Shoulda known that weaselly bastard couldn’t stick to his word if his damn life depended on it.”

“Dean…” Roman started, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Hey, man, he’s - he’s gonna be alright, man. C’mon, you know what Seth’s like. He scares the shit out of us then comes back and taunts us ‘cause we were scared for him.”

Shaking off Roman’s hand, Dean shook his head and punched the bed with his good hand. “Goddamnit,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut to fight back the tears. “Goddamnit, goddamnit, _goddamnit.”_

-

Dean had gotten his way into Seth’s hospital room - he’d say it was through his natural charm, but Roman would say it was because the nurses just wanted him to leave them alone and they trusted Roman when he said Dean wasn’t a threat to Seth. Either way, Dean was there now.

Seth was getting warmer, the doctor had said. They’d put a cast on his broken arm and they’d stitched every cut that needed it. Dean gazed at his boyfriend’s face - the doctor said Seth was getting better and that he’d be fine, but Dean would believe it when Seth woke up.

“Seth, you idiot,” he breathed, intertwining his fingers with Seth’s. “Why’d you follow me? You said you wouldn’t.” Dean closed his eyes. “You coulda died, Seth. Doc says you woulda, if Ro hadn’t found you.” Carefully, Dean stood up - the nurse would kill him if she thought he was putting weight on his ankle - and pressed a kiss to Seth’s forehead.

Seth didn’t move. Dean instead pressed his forehead to Seth’s. “I’m not worth it,” he finally whispered. He wasn’t and he knew it. Seth should’ve just stayed home - should’ve stayed true to what he’d been saying and just let Dean go. Instead he ended up in a hospital bed, with hypothermia, a broken arm and stitches.

The quiet “Fuck you” almost went unheard. Dean opened his eyes and pull his head up, letting blue eyes meet dark brown ones. Seth continued glaring at him and repeated, “Fuck you, Dean.” He started to struggle to right himself in the bed, but Dean pushed him back down, muttering something about his arm.

 _“Fuck_ my arm, Dean,” Seth growled, before hooking his good hand into Dean’s hair and pulling him down for a deep kiss. When it broke, Seth put his forehead to Dean’s and said, “I never wanna hear you saying that bullshit again. You’re worth _everything_ , you idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> [1/24]
> 
> I'm planning to write two fics per month this entire year. If there're any ships or whatever you think need more fics, send me an ask at thistaleisabloodyone.tumblr.com


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